A University of British Columbia study, published Wednesday, finds people overwhelmingly prefer dialects similar to their own, most likely “because they convey a soothing sense of community.” Unlike previous investigations into vocal attractiveness, which focused on mate selection and the presumed appearance of an unseen speaker, the new research suggests there’s a social belongingness component to voice preference.

“There are so many things we can do with our voice that extend beyond general physical characteristics,” said lead author Molly Babel, a professor of linguistics. “We felt that our preferences had to be about more than a person’s shape and size.”

The study was conducted, alongside scholars at the University of California-Santa Cruz, with a group of Californians who were born and raised in the U.S. State. These participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of 60 voices – 30 male, 30 female – on a scale of one to nine.

Overwhelmingly, Babel said, people found the greatest appeal in regional dialects similar to their own. For instance, being drawn to “oo-fronting,” which is more common on the West Coast than in the Mid-West (imagine a stereotypical surfer saying “dooood!” compared to the more clipped vocal style of, say, Bob and Doug McKenzie: “dude.”)

In Canada, where immigrants make up one in five members of the population, Babel said the results imply that newcomers face a social cost to sounding like outsiders.

“There’s a push and pull dance we do, where we want to fit in with our voice yet don’t want to act like mimics or copycats; we want to maintain vocal integrity,” said Babel, who’s originally from Minnesota.

“I lived in California for a long time and I got made fun of a lot for my accent, so I lost a lot of it. But I don’t sound like a Californian because there are some things in my (native) accent I want to hold onto.”

The good news is that the anecdotal appeal of certain foreign accents suggests that the exotic can also be compelling – particularly if the dialect is linked with positive stereotypes.

“There might be a benefit to having your accent associated with high prestige,” said Babel. “For example, people in North America tend to think someone with a British accent sounds really smart.”

Marilyn Monroe

Gender differences are also uncovered in the research, which is published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

For female voices, breathier sounds – think Marilyn Monroe and Jessica Rabbit – are rated as most alluring, while creakier voices (also known as “vocal fry”) – say, Ellen Page or Kim Kardashian – are rated less attractive. Babel suggests these findings are linked to the perceived youth of breathier voices, versus the perceived maturity, ill health or tiredness of creaky ones.

For males, back-cavity length – resulting in larger-sounding voices, such as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast – predicts a speaker’s appeal. People also prefer male voices that “produce shorter utterances,” which Babel said has long been linked to masculinity.

Misty Harris is a nationally recognized journalist known for her stories on social science, consumer trends, demographics, academic studies, and marketing. For more than a decade, her articles have been... read more featured on the front pages of Canada’s top newspapers, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun, Victoria Times-Colonist, Montreal Gazette, The Province, The Leader-Post, The Star-Phoenix, The Windsor Star, and Ottawa Citizen, in addition to such online news hubs as Canada.com.
Harris has been honoured by the Society for Features Journalism; appeared as a pop culture commentator on CTV, Global News and BBC World Service; reported on fashion, health and lifestyle issues for Flare magazine; and spoken as a guest lecturer at universities in Canada and the U.S.
She is a collector of hot sauces and disappointments.View author's profile